Chapter 2
'Wake up, my pretty, little mate...' Harry sat upright in bed, breathing ragged and the start of a full-body blush moving from his face, down his neck and covering his chest. He could still feel Riddle's hands moving over his body as he whispered pretty words and sweet nothings in his ears. "What the hell is happening to me?" he whispers rubbing his cheek and pushing open the bed curtains, sliding out of bed. No one was awake yet so he headed into the shower, taking one quickly and getting dressed before sitting on his bed to pull on his socks and trainers. Casting a Tempus to check the time, he frowned and packed his bag before heading down to the great hall to eat a small breakfast.
POV=Change=
Aurora sat at the Slytherin table, nursing the latte she'd talked a rather hyper house-elf into making for her and smiled at Marcus who was laying full-out on the bench with his head pillowed on her thigh. "Wakey, wakey, Marcus," she snickers playing with his hair, purposely messing it up as she takes a sip of her coffee. He grumbled at her, nose twitching at the smell of food before he went back to sleep. Taking a piece of bacon off her plate, Aurora wagged it in front of his nose and snickered when he moved, grabbing it in his teeth before she could pull it away. Marcus opened his eyes as Aurora let go of the bacon and went back to eating her food now that he was awake.
"How can you be so happy this early in the morning?" he yawns sitting up and sliding as close to her as he could get, laying his head on top of hers. "It's exhausting."
Aurora giggled, patting his leg and popped a strawberry in her mouth. "Don't worry," she chuckles, "You'll eventually get used to it or you could sleep in, I wouldn't mind."
Marcus growled into her hair, "Nope, not going to happen," causing her to snicker as she made his plate. "You don't have to..."
"You weren't doing it so hush," she says setting the plate down in front of him. He kissed her forehead before turning to his plate and starting to eat.
Finishing what little was left on her plate, Aurora took another sip of her coffee and pulled out her sketchbook, flipping to a clean page. She stared at the page for a moment before an image started to form and she let her pen hand follow what she saw. "Seems like our little cousin is having some very confusing dreams," Draco says looking at Aurora's sketchpad and she snapped out of la-la land to look down at what she'd sketched.
A sleeping Harry was sketched out in the center of the page, dividing the other two parts of the drawing. The left side of the page had him and Tom Riddle in the middle of some very naughty things she was kind of disappounted the sheet covered, while the right had Tom's 'Voldemort' persona standing over Harry's dead body. "Hmm," Aurora breathes closing the sketchbook and looking across the great hall to see Harry sitting alone.
The owls began to flock in through the windows and Draco's eyes widened when he saw the small grey and black owl that was zooming towards him. "Oh no," he breathes causing Aurora and Marcus to laugh when they saw the red envelope heading towards them. "I told you she was going to do this." Marcus caught the letter that a great, big black owl dropped to him and glanced at the front of the envelope before handing it to Aurora. "Why can't my mother be normal, or at least like Marcus'?" Draco put the Howler in his bookbag for them to read later and Aurora put the letter from Lord and Lady Flint in her sketchbook.
She put her book back in her bag and set it on the bench next to Marcus, "I'll be back in a few minutes." Before either one of them could argue with her, she skipped across the great hall and took a seat across from Harry. When he glanced up to see who it was, she held her hand out to him. "Hi, I'm Aurora."
"Harry," he breathes taking her hand and she gave his hand one good, solid shake. "Why'd you come over here?"
Aurora shrugged, tapping her fingers on the surface of the table. "Being friendly, I saw you sitting by yourself and thought I'd come say hello," she says cocking her head at him. "Are your friends still sleeping?"
He snorted, running a hand through his messy, black hair and Aurora fought the urge to reach out and comb it flat. "Most likely," he says looking Aurora in the eye and she could see how tired he was. There were dark circles around his eyes and he looked like he hadn't slept well in a while.
"Hey," she breathes, "are you okay? You look like you can't decide whether you're tired or in pain."
He nodded and opened his mouth to speak when a book bag was slammed down on the table next to Aurora, causing the both of them to flinch. "You have your own table, Snake, why are you over here?" the red-headed boy, the one that had been sitting beside Harry last night, snarls and Aurora raised an eyebrow, standing up.
"It was nice meeting you, Harry," she says giving him a small wave, "talk to you again sometime." With that, Aurora began walking back to the Slytherin table.
"Hey, I asked you a question," the red-head yells and she stops before looking at him over her shoulder.
She stared at him for a few seconds before she shrugged and continued walking. "I thought it was rhetorical," she says loud enough for him to hear, moving around the table to retake her seat beside Marcus.
Draco coughed into his fist to cover his snicker, pouring himself a glass of apple juice and looked at Aurora with amused grey eyes. "You're going to find every opportunity to mess with Weasley, aren't you?" he asks and she shrugs, glancing towards the Gryffindor table to see the red-head was getting mad at Harry. "His name's Ronald Weasley."
Aurora cocked her head slightly when Harry just listened to whatever Weasley was telling him and didn't even argue back, instead he seemed to curl inward just slightly. "Does he normally get angry when someone talks to Harry?" Aurora asks as she watches her cousin act like a dog that's been kicked one too many times. Draco nodded and she was about to look away from them when Harry's gaze met hers, anger simmering in his green eyes before he looked down at the table. "When he finally gets fed up with it, it's going to be one hell of a fireworks show."
POV=Change=
Hermione arrived in the great hall to see that Harry and Ron were already there, getting annoyed when she saw Ron being an ass to Harry. She smacked Ron on the back of the head before making her way around the table to sit beside Harry. "You okay, Harry?" she asks and he nods staring down at the tabletop. Hermione clicks her tongue but doesn't say anything else, turning her attention to Ron. "Why are you so angry? And why are you taking it out on Harry?"
Ron gave her an angry look and rubbed the back of his head. "He was chatting with Snape's daughter when I got here and she was sitting at our table," he growls and Hermione raises an eyebrow.
"I don't see how that's a problem," she says patting Harry's hand in an attempt at comforting him. "She's new, she doesn't act like the other Slytherins and the only thing I think is wrong is how she's betrothed to Flint when they're both too young to be thinking about marriage."
Ron snickered before asking, very loudly, "She's betrothed to that Troll?"
Hermione didn't think he was planning on the muffin that came sailing through the air to smack into the back of his head and she giggled as Harry laughed softly. "The only Troll I see in this room has bright red hair, a terrible temper, and a big mouth," Aurora laughs as she tosses another muffin up into the air and catches it.
Growling, Ron stood from his seat and turned towards her, drawing his wand. "Mr. Weasley," Professor McGonagall says from the head table where she'd been curled up on a chair in her cat form.
"It's fine, Professor," Aurora says standing from her seat and Minerva looked at her before sighing, making a continue motion with her hand. Dodging to the side as he sent a hex at her, she leapt over the Slytherin table and landed on the empty Ravenclaw table. Ron growled and sent a jinx flying towards her, she dodged to the left and stepped off the table, ducking down into a crouch to avoid another spell.
Pulling her wand, Aurora leapt forward and grabbed the wrist of his wand hand, turning it just enough that it hurt to try to move, wand point inches from his right eye. "Don't ever point your wand at me again," she growls releasing his wrist with enough force to send him stumbling back into the table and returning her wand to the sheath on her arm. Skipping back to her seat, Aurora missed the grizzled form of Mad-Eye standing in the door of the great hall with a small smirk on his lopsided mouth, as did everyone else in the room.
The night before, after Snape's rounds
Severus was just getting back to his quarters after doing his rounds, making sure no one was sneaking through the halls and he wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. "Severus," Moody's voice says from behind him as the portrait to his rooms opened and he glared over his shoulder. "Can I have a word?" Severus was about to close the portrait when Moody shook his head, pointing to the door. "I don't think the hallway is a good place to have this conversation." The dark-haired man nodded, opening the door and heading inside, leaving it open for Moody to follow.
As soon as the old man had pulled the door closed, Severus turned towards him and motioned for him to take a seat. "What do you need to tell me?" he asks and the old man gave him a small smirk as he unbuckled the constantly spinning eye and pulled the metal leg off just as his Polyjuice Potion began to wear off. "Barty?"
The lean, brown-haired man smirked and leant back into the couch cushions. "Tom is suspicious of Dumbledore's willingness to participate in the Triwizard Tournament," Barty says looking at Snape, who nodded. "He feels Dumbledore might be planning something... Actually, he seems almost sure the old bastard is planning something with Harry in mind."
Severus went into his kitchen and grabbed two glasses, filling them with water before walking to his chair, setting one of them on the coffee table in front of Barty. "I had the same feeling until I was informed of the new rules," Severus says taking a drink, "no one below the age of seventeen may enter the tournament."
Barty nodded, plucking up his cup and twirling it between his palms. "What's to stop Dumbles from putting Harry's name in himself or having an of-age student do so?" he asks and Snape's face became dark, the blank mask he'd kept for years slipping. "So... How's yours and Sirius' daughter?
Snape snapped out of the dark place his thoughts had gone to and raised an eyebrow at Barty. "How'd you..." He cut off at Barty's look before continuing. "Aurora seems to be perfectly fine," he answers, "she's different from how I expected."
"You won't believe what I learned from Moody..."
Present
Hermione was trying to contain her laughter while listening to Ron mutter about cheating Snakes under his breath. "She didn't cheat, Ron, she's been trained in dueling and you haven't," Hermione says causing him to growl and glare at her. "I don't understand why every Magic school, other than Hogwarts, has a dueling class and club."
"There used to be," a dreamy-looking blonde says before taking a seat at the Ravenclaw table.
"Hello Luna," Harry says with a small smile towards the younger girl.
She looked at him and her dreamy-blue eyes cleared a bit. "Hello Harry, you've been having good dreams I hope?"
Harry gave her the same small smile and nodded. "They're alright," he says and she brightens, nodding to him before turning back to fix herself some breakfast.
"Why are you so nice to the little Looney?" Ron demands, quietly, glaring at Harry and Hermione fights the urge to throw the book she was reading at him.
Harry looks at Ron before shaking his head and standing up, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "I'm allowed to have other friends," he growls at Ron before leaving the great hall and Hermione growled, standing up as she smacked Ron on the head with her book.
"Idiot," she fumes, following Harry and leaving Ron fuming at the table.
POV=Change=
Aurora watched the scene with barley concealed agitation. The only thing keeping her from cursing the Weasley boy was Marcus who was holding her wand hand in a death grip. "What the hell is his problem?" she growls glaring across at the back of the boy's head.
The dreamy blonde girl that had been speaking to Harry a few minutes ago stood from her seat and walked around her table to come over to the Slytherin one. "Hello, I'm Luna Lovegood," she sighs holding her hand out to Aurora who took it and let the small blonde shake, scared she'd break her because she was so tiny.
"Aurora Snape," she murmurs as the girl's eyes cleared of their dreaminess and became piercingly intelligent.
Luna's grip tightened a little and she tugged on Aurora's hand. "You want to go find Harry and see if he needs any help calming down? Hermione can only do so much by herself," she says and Aurora stood, pulling her bag on over her head.
"See you later, Marcus, Draco," she says waving to them as she follows along behind Luna. "Do you know where he went?"
Luna nodded, slowing down once they were far enough away from the great hall. "If you ever see him get angry and leave before he can blow up at people, he disappears to this place," she says grabbing Aurora's hand and pulling her up several flights of stairs to the seventh floor, dragging her towards a blank wall.
"Why are you telling me this?" Aurora asks marveling at the strength the smaller girl displayed in being able to make Aurora stumble after her.
Luna froze, turning her head to look at Aurora, intelligent blue eyes catching hers. "Why not?" she asks. "I can tell that you have no intention of harming him and I can sense blood ties between people, you're his cousin if I'm not mistaken, just like Draco."
Aurora nodded an affirmative to her statement and Luna smiled, letting go of her hand. Pacing back and forth in front of the wall three times made a door appear and Luna motioned for Aurora to follow as she pulled it open. "Wicked hiding place," Aurora says stepping in behind Luna and closing the door, moving farther into the room.
"Isn't it?" Hermione chuckles from her seat beside Harry, rubbing comforting patterns on his back. "Sorry, if I don't shake your hand but I'm Hermione Granger."
Aurora nods, sitting down across from them as Luna took the seat on Harry's other side, patting his knee. "That's fine, you seem a bit busy and I'm Aurora Snape," she murmurs leaning back into the cushions, looking at Harry. "You alright, Harry?"
He nodded, glancing up at her and she smiled. "So do you like breaking the rules or do you not have any robes?" he asks and she smirks.
"Not used to wearing them and forgot to order them until the last second, they'll take a while to get here," she explains leaning back into the cushions.
Luna snickered, raising a pale eyebrow at her. "You did it on purpose, didn't you?" Hermione snickers and she chuckles, nodding. Harry laughed, glancing up at her with sparkling green eyes and ran a hand through his hair.
Time=Change=
Harry was sitting in an alcove down in the dungeons, reading his Potions textbook after getting away from the great hall and the incessant noise that seemed to overflow there now that the older students from the three schools were putting their names in the Goblet of Fire. Being almost done with his Potions essay, he'd decided that he needed time to himself and was taking the time to finish the last of his homework. When he was almost done there was a loud, happy, feminine voice yelling and Harry figured that Malfoy must've opened the Howler from his mother. 'Why anyone would send a Howler to express how happy they were, I will never understand,' he thinks to himself before looking back down at his Potions work, using his fingers to measure the length to see if it met the three foot requirement. Growling when he was a few inches off, he tried to think of what else he could possibly add to the essay that would make sense at the end.
"Do you come here often?" Aurora asks and he lifts his head from his work to see her standing at the opening to the alcove, Marcus standing behind her.
"When I want to get away," he answers looking back down at his essay. "No one would look for me down here."
Aurora smiles, sitting on the bench on his left and patted the space beside her for Marcus to sit. "I hope you don't mind," she breathes as she pulls an unopened envelope from her bag. "After Draco's mother's letter, I wanted a quiet place to read this one."
Harry nodded, giving her a small smile as he continued working on his essay and she sat back, opening the letter. Marcus decided to read it over her shoulder at the same time she was reading it.
Darling Aurora, I and Sebastian would like to express how happy we are that you have returned home. We also know that due to the Triwizard Tournament everyone will be staying at the castle during the Winter Holidays so we would like to visit during the first Hogsmeade weekend to catch up with you. Sincerely, Lord and Lady Flint. P.S. Lord and Lady Malfoy will be accompanying us, please pass this information on to Draco.
Marcus snickered as Aurora began fidgeting and folded the letter to pull out the Hogsmeade schedule to check when the first scheduled weekend was. "The first Hogsmeade weekend is right after the first task," she breathes leaning into Marcus' side. "A month from now."
POV=Change=
Draco was walking through a dungeon hallway, glad to have some time away from the other Slytherins who kept asking so many annoying questions about how he was related to Aurora. "How am I supposed to explain that Aurora is..." the sound of someone's shoes scuffing on the stones behind him cut him off and he whirled around to see Pansy hurrying after him. "What do you want Parkinson?" he asks crossing his arms over his chest and giving her the patented Malfoy sneer.
"What is your problem, Draco?" she asks giving him a hurt look. "Ever since your cousin came home from America, you haven't been the nicest person to hang out with. Even Crabbe and Goyle are starting to notice that you've changed."
Draco raised one pale blonde eyebrow, "Ever thought that it's how I've always acted and your perspective of me is what's changing?" he asks turning away from her and walking away, effectively dismissing her.
Pansy humphed, stomping her feet at his dismissal and turned back the way she'd come, growling about stupid, spoiled, blond prats.
POV=Change=
Harry sat frozen in his alcove after what he'd just heard, wondering if what Parkinson had pointed out was true or if Malfoy was right. It hardly made sense that when Aurora appeared his and Draco's feud ended, hell, it began to seem like it had never existed. Looking over to where Aurora and Marcus had been sitting about thirty minutes ago when they'd read the letter from Marcus' parents. "This is interesting," he breathes as he begins to pack up all of his finished homework and stuck his head out of the alcove to make sure no one saw him before heading up to the great hall for dinner. He wondered if he could get Malfoy alone to ask him why he hasn't insulted him since the time on the train before he knew Aurora was here. "I wonder if it was all just pretend? Maybe he did it to keep up appearances?"
Time=Skip=
It was Wednesday morning and Harry was already getting really tired of Ron's attitude towards his other friends in Gryffindor and those from other houses. Not only was Ron behaving appalling towards Luna but he was beginning to act rude towards his fellow Gryffs that were friends with Harry, like Neville, Dean and Seamus. Harry was sitting in the Room of Requirement, staring at the Marauder's Map every few minutes as he worked on his homework, waiting for Luna, Hermione and Neville to get back from the library with books to help them with their homework. He saw it when they ran into the twins, who'd been following Ron all day and Harry had a feeling they were planning a way to prank the living daylights out of him.
POV=Change=
Aurora was sitting at the table closest to the door of the library doing her homework and chewing on a sugar quill. While her normal quill moved along the parchment by itself, enchanted to write down what she wanted it to and listened to the scratching of the quills around her. Finishing off her sugar quill, she bent down to dig in her bag for the rest of her candy, cocking her head in confusion when the two chairs across from her were pulled out and two people sat down. Finding her candy, she sat back up and stared at the nearly-identical twin red-heads sitting across from her. "Can I help the two of you?" she asks when they continue to grin at her without saying anything and she was beginning to get a little creeped out.
Their smiles just got wider as the one wearing a green shirt leant back in his chair and the one in the blue shirt crossed his arms on the table, putting his head on top of them. "Fred and George Weasley," they say at the same time, holding out a hand each to shake and Aurora slowly shook their hands, knowing to be weary of the two pranksters. "No need to be so cautious, we only prank those we think deserve it," the one in blue says and Aurora raises an eyebrow, pulling a chocolate bar out of her bag of candy.
"Okay, I'm Aurora Snape and if you do prank me, I'll get you back," she breathes grabbing her quill before it could begin her Charms essay on the same piece of parchment as her Transfiguration one. Putting it at the top of a brand new piece of parchment, she released it so it could begin writing before her attention went back to the twins sitting across from her.
They both nodded, staring for a few more seconds as Aurora opened her chocolate and broke off a piece, offering the rest of the bar to the twins. "We were wondering what kind of Creature you were because we couldn't tell?" the one in green asks and Aurora was about to throw up a Silencing ward around them when she noticed that they'd already done so.
Aurora leant back in her seat after placing the chocolate bar in the center of the table and watched them for a second as her green and grey eyes swirled in curiosity. "Dragon and Demon," she breathes tapping her fingers against the table. "What are the two of you?"
The twins' eyes had gone cloudy when Aurora had mentioned that she had two Creatures that were Awakened. "Imps," they say at the same time and Aurora nods, tapping her foot. "Don't you have to die to Awaken a Demon Creature Inheritance?"
Time=Skip=
The great hall was loud during lunch on Thursday as last minute entries were put in the Goblet of Fire and Aurora rolled her eyes, making sure to keep a tight hold on Marcus' hand, even though she knew he didn't want to compete. She noticed her father keeping a close eye on Harry and the Goblet of Fire, like he expected Harry's name to rise out of it, making her nervous. 'There's no way Dumbles would try to make Harry compete in the Tournament,' floated through her thoughts and she shook her head to dislodge those thoughts, clinging to Marcus' arm harder. "Are you okay, Aurora?" he breathes before following her gaze to Harry and then looking back at her. "The old man isn't stupid enough to put Harry's name in the Goblet," he breathes and Aurora looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Nevermind, who am I kidding, it's just the kind of thing he would do."
Aurora hoped that the nervous, fearful feeling in her stomach was just her being suspicious of Dumbledore and his motives where Harry was considered. "I really hope we're both wrong, Marcus," she breathes letting up her grip on his arm and pushing around what little food was left on her plate.
Marcus nodded, "You and me both."
Time=Skip=
Aurora sat in the great hall after dinner, wanting nothing more than to go back to the dormitories and sleep. She was barely listening to Dumbledore's voice when she heard him say something frightening. "Harry Potter," Dumbledore bellowed for the third and final time as Hermione prodded him to step forward and take the scrap of parchment with his name on it.
"No," Aurora breathes, Draco echoing her as she moved to stand up and Marcus wrapped his arm around her waist to keep her seated.
As the great hall erupted into shouts of how Harry cheated and he wasn't even of age to compete, Luna, Hermione and Aurora looked to each other. 'This is bad,' Hermione mouthed and the other two nodded, the three of them heading towards where they'd seen the champions disappear.
"I'll meet you at the common room later tonight," Aurora says when Marcus kept hold of her hand and Marcus nods, letting her go.
Joining Hermione and Luna outside the room where they could hear Dumbledore and the other adults yelling. Aurora cast a very strong Notice-Me-Not spell over the three of them so they could wait for Harry unseen. "When I find out who stuck his name in that cup, I'm going to skin them alive," Hermione growls angrily tapping her foot and Luna nods in agreement. Aurora was quiet, leaning against the wall, a look of concentration on her face. Hermione was about to ask what she was doing when they could suddenly hear everything being said in the other room.
While listening to the three headmasters argue and Crouch explain that Harry had to compete, the three girls just got angrier. "He's a minor," Luna mutters grinding her teeth, "making him compete, is as good as emancipating him."
Aurora nods, chewing on her lip piercings and putting her hands in her pockets. "The cup makes the contract magically-binding," Hermione growls running a hand through her hair. "Harry loses his magic if he doesn't compete."
Aurora growled at that and leant her head back, staring up at the ceiling. "We need to help him while at the same time try to find out who put his name in the cup," Aurora breathes glancing at the two of them without moving her head.
"It could've been anyone, though," Hermione groans looking down and the other two could see that she was fighting back tears. "People die in this tournament, why would anyone do this?"
Luna placed her hand on Hermione's shoulder and Aurora moved closer, putting her finger to her lips to tell them to be quiet. "They're coming out," she breathes right before the door opened and all three held their breath as all of the adults walked out.
Moody's magic eye stopped moving, zeroing in on where they were standing and Aurora glared, hoping he wouldn't say anything. A small smirk appeared on his lopsided mouth before he turned his attention away from them and continued walking behind Albus. The champions left at a slower pace than the adults, all of them with looks of concentration on their faces until Harry.
Harry walked out of the room with a terror-filled look on his face and Aurora canceled the Notice-Me-Not spell as she moved, wrapping her arms around him at the same time Hermione and Luna did. "It'll be okay, Harry," Luna breathes and Harry whimpers, hunching in on himself like he wanted to disappear.
When tears began falling, Aurora detached from the hug, casting another Notice-Me-Not spell on the four of them and floating the still-hugging group up to the seventh floor. After summoning the Room of Requirement, she opened the door and floated them through before following, closing the door behind her. Setting them down on the couch, she canceled the spell and leant against the back of the couch, thinking. "Someone is planning something with this," she growls playing with Harry's hair, "and I'm going to find out who."
Harry lifted his head so Aurora's hand was now on his cheek. "So, are you ever going to tell me how you knew me before we met?" he asks and her face went blank. "And don't try to tell me that you're just a fan of the Boy-Who-Lived. You care way too much for that to be your reason."
Aurora eyed her cousin, wondering how she could've missed how truly smart he was and moved out from behind the couch, sitting on the one across from them. Pulling out her wand, she gripped tight and looked at them. "I swear on my magic that what I am about to tell Harry James Potter, Hermione Jean Granger and Luna Lovegood is the absolute truth, so mote it be," she swears and the room flashed silver and green with her magic. "First off, Harry, you're my cousin, my other father is Sirius Black and, before you ask, he doesn't remember, he's been Obliviated." Harry looked pissed off, Hermione looked shocked and Luna's dreamy look was back full force. "A couple of months before my third birthday, I was kidnapped by Dumbledore and given to a Squib couple from America. I was able to threaten my adoptive parents into letting me get emancipated, I was on a plane to London the next day and transferred to Hogwarts."
Harry looked like he wanted to ask something so she paused, looking at him expectantly. "Cousin?" he breathes staring at her. "Don't you call Draco, cousin, as well?"
"Uh," she starts before stopping and thinking about how she could explain. "Draco's mother is Narcissa Malfoy nee Black, Sirius' cousin. You're grandmother is Dorea Potter nee Black, Sirius' aunt."
Harry nodded, gaze distant as he thought over what she'd just said before his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Two fathers?" he asks and the girls burst out laughing.
"Some Wizards are able to bear children, Harry," Hermione giggles and Harry raised his eyebrows, not even bothering to comment.
Instead turning to Aurora with a questioning look. "Snape or Sirius?"
Aurora raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her stomach and snickered, "Sure you could handle the answer to that question?" He nodded an affirmative and Aurora sighed. "Snape."
"Which is why someone was able to Obliviate the memory of Sirius' relationship with Snape and you away and it actually working, Obliviates will work on Bearers for a small amount of time but, eventually, will wear off," Luna says and Aurora nodded.
"Wouldn't that mean that Dumbledore is the one who Obliviated Sirius?" Hermione questions leaning back into her cushion.
Aurora shrugged, leaning her head back and staring up at the ceiling. "All I know is what Daddy told me," she breathes playing with the one necklace she never took off. "We went to see Sirius one day and he didn't remember anything to do with us. It was like nothing had changed between them since their school days."
Harry looked downright murderous once Aurora finished that sentence and Luna's eyes cleared when they landed on the necklace she kept playing with. "What's that?" she asks motioning towards Aurora's neck.
At her question, Aurora immediately stopped playing with it and let it fall from her fingers to disappear beneath her shirt. "Now I'm curious," Harry breathes leaning forward and Hermione cocked her head to the side in silent question.
"I..." Aurora starts looking away from them, "I've never taken it off, not since he gave it to me."
Harry stood, walking over to sit next to her and lightly grasped the chain between two fingers, moving it so the charm sat on his palm. "I've seen this crest before," he breathes, "when I went searching for information on Sirius last year."
"The Black family crest," Aurora explains turning the charm over in his palm.
Harry stared at the engraving for about a minute before looking her in the eye. "To A. J. With much love, Papa," he reads aloud, running a finger over the words before letting go of it. Looking over to Hermione, Harry had a look of determination on his face. "How do you undo an Obliviate?"
Her eyes become glassy as she immerses herself in her thoughts, trying to see if she had an answer to his question. "A Mind Healer would be able to do it," Luna says watching as Hermione slipped farther into her mind to search for something a wanted criminal could do instead.
Aurora still wasn't quite used to the smart Witch disappearing inside her own head when she thought too hard. "I don't think that would work," Harry mutters, sarcasm thick in his voice. "He's kind of a wanted criminal."
Luna snickers as tea for four appeared on the coffee table between them. "Just throwing that out there while the Library was going through her thoughts," she snickers looking over the cups on the tea tray to find hers. "Mmm, honey and hibiscus."
Aurora shook her head, looking over the tray before finding her lavender and chamomile. Hermione jerked as she returned to herself and took her cup off the empty tea tray, taking a quick sip. "Aurora can we borrow that necklace?" she asks and Aurora's reaction was instantaneous, hand going up to clamp around the charm as she shook her head. "Please? Seeing it could cause the Obliviate to break."
All three of them were looking at her like she grew a second head. "How?" Harry asks patting Aurora's knee to keep her calm. "She may cooperate if you were to explain."
Aurora looked at him through the corner of her eye and raised an eyebrow. "The caster could have dismissed the necklace because it's a Black family crest and wouldn't have caught it's significance," Hermione says watching Aurora like you would a wounded animal, taking another sip of her tea. "The necklace's significance would still be there but without the memory of giving it to her as he doesn't remember who she is. Using the necklace to break through the Obliviate is the only real way to do it without going to a Mind Healer, which Sirius can't do for obvious reasons."
Aurora had calmed with her explanation and wasn't clutching at the necklace anymore. "It's the only way?" she asks looking down at the necklace before giving Hermione the puppy dog eyes from beneath her lashes.
"The only way that won't get him sent back to Azkaban," Hermione mutters giving her a mock glare to counteract Aurora's puppy dog eyes.
Reaching back, Aurora undid the clasp of the necklace before handing it to Harry. "I'll send this in the letter I'm writing tonight," he breathes running a reassuring hand through her hair. "You'll have it back soon." She looked down at the chain hanging from his fist and nodded.
Luna stood from her seat and set her empty teacup back on the tray, giving the other three a dreamy smile. "I think it's time we headed off to bed," she yawns stretching before hugging Hermione, Harry and Aurora, walking towards the door. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Luna," the other three chorus as Aurora stood, hugging Harry and Hermione before following. "Don't stay up too much later," she says as she leaves the room and the two of them laugh, waving her out of the room.
Aurora headed down to the dungeons under a very strong Notice-Me-Not and knocked at her father's portrait, hoping he was still awake. The door opened and Snape stared at the spot where she was occupying before moving to close the door. "Really dad?" she snickers and his eyes widen as he moves out of the way so she could walk into his room.
She released the spell once he had the door closed and her head jerked towards the couch when she heard an unfamiliar male chuckle. "Not worried about getting detention, little Aurora?" the man sitting on the couch questions and she raised an eyebrow, looking towards her father. "Didn't know Azkaban changed me that much."
Aurora took a better look at him, trying to find something she was familiar with in his face. "She only met you twice, Barty," Snape laughs retaking his seat in his chair.
"Right," the man, Barty, chuckles and Aurora frowned. "So, did you manage to calm down our little champion?" Aurora's eyes narrowed on him, immediately suspicious now that he'd mentioned Harry. "Calm, I mean Harry no harm, I'm pretty sure an angry snake would try to eat me if I did."
Aurora froze at the snake comment for a second before she snickered. "Would this snake happen to be very human and Harry's mate?" she giggles and both men look at her in surprise. "Harry was projecting his thoughts a little loud the first morning after we arrived and I caught a look inside his head on accident, he's having some very confusing dreams."
Snape raised an eyebrow, looking at his daughter and Barty snickered. "What do you mean when you say confusing?" Snape asks leaning forward in his chair and Aurora opened her book bag to dig out her sketchbook, flipping it to the drawing from the other day, handing it to her father. "Yeah, that's pretty confusing. The 'Voldemort' dream has to be coming from an outside source. The other one can be explained as early mate dreams."
Barty moved so he was standing behind Snape to look at the drawing over his shoulder and snickered. "Riddle is probably going to growl at you for drawing the left scene," he says and Aurora shrugs.
"I can't control what I draw when I zone out," she murmurs low enough that she hopes they can't hear her. "He's probably going to kill whoever is sending Harry those nightmares."
"Most likely," Barty says scanning the page again before snickering. "You should probably avoid zoning out around your cousin from now on, catching images of his mate dreams is creepy."
Aurora gave him a 'duh' look, narrowing her eyes at him and he raised his hands up in surrender. "I make sure he's not anywhere near me when I draw now," she growls crossing her arms over her chest.
"Okay, okay, I don't want you to sic Flint on me," he snickers causing her to growl louder.
Reaching up to run her finger over her necklace, she remembered it wasn't there and dropped her hand back to her waist, catching her father's attention. "Aurora, where's your necklace?" he asks and she looks at him.
"In my jewelry box," she answers reflexively, "the clasp broke so I put it in there to get a replacement clasp as soon as I can."
Snape nodded and Barty stared at her, raising an eyebrow in question. "What necklace?" he asks and Snape glances at him.
"A gift from my other father," Aurora breathes fingering the chain on her pants. She yawned, covering her mouth with her hand and stretched. "I'm going to head to the dorm so I can go to sleep. See you in the morning, daddy, Professor Moody."
Both men were gaping at her as she left the room and as soon as she was far enough away from them, she began too giggle hysterically. Upon reaching the Slytherin portrait, she giggled the password and walked into the common room, still laughing. "Gods, could you be more obnoxious?" Parkinson says glaring at her and Aurora cocked her head in her direction. "You sound like a bloody hyena."
Aurora snickered when everyone around Pansy moved away, not wanting to be anywhere near her if something happened. "And you look like a small dog someone's kicked the face in on," Aurora growls, baring her teeth in annoyance. "I suggest you shut up and leave me be, because I'm not in the mood to put you in your place nicely." Pansy shrieked, standing up and was moving to grab her wand when Aurora suddenly had hers out and pointed. "Go ahead." Pansy froze before putting her empty hands out on either side of her, sitting back down in her seat. Aurora smirks, "I believe that demotes you to small, annoying lapdog." Sliding her wand back up her sleeve, she continues through the common room to where Marcus and Draco are sitting, taking the seat between them on the couch.
Marcus was trying hard not to laugh and Draco was snickering behind his hand, hiding it as a series of coughs. "So, how is Harry taking this disastrous turn of events?" Draco asks and Aurora shrugged, leaning into Marcus as she yawned behind her hand.
"He cried for a little, made me tell him everything and is sending my necklace to my other father to see if it can help him break through the Obliviate," she answers wrapping a curl around her finger.
Draco snickers, leaning back on the couch. "If that works, your last name will change back to Black and everyone in our house will be crawling over themselves to make you happy," he murmurs casting a spell to make sure he wasn't overheard. "Not to mention, Severus would be ten times happier knowing Sirius could remember him again."
"That reminds me," she says before yawning again, "if daddy asks where my necklace is, it's broken and in my jewelry box. He's probably trying to remember if there was an Anti-Tampering Charm on the necklace that keeps a simple Reparo from fixing it."
They both laughed and Marcus leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Go ahead and go to sleep," he breathes in her ear and she nods, kissing the tip of his nose before standing up, heading for the girl's dorms.
"Night, Marcus," she says over her shoulder. "Goodnight, Draco."